Cataclysm Masteries, Tol'vir, Blue Posts

For example, a level 82 player will get 1 Mastery point for each 93 Mastery Rating he has. This mastery point will increase the mastery bonus differently depending on the class, +1 Mastery Point doesn't necessarily means a +1% increase to the bonus. (e.g. A Beast Mastery hunter with +2 Mastery gets +4% increased pet damage)

Restoration - Increases the potency of your heal over time spells by up to 20% based on the current health level of your target (lower health targets are healed for more). Healing increased further by mastery rating.

Feral - Increases the damage absorbed by your Savage Defense ability by 32% and increases the damage done by your Cat Form bleed abilities by 20%. Absorb and damage increased further by mastery rating.

Balance - Increases the bonus damage from Eclipse by 12%. Damage increased further by mastery rating.

Shadow - You have a 10% chance for your Shadow Word: Pain and Mind Flay spells to gran you a Shadow Orb each time they deal damage. The Shadow Orb Increases the damage done by your Mind Blast and Mind Spike spells by 20%. Damage increased further by mastery rating.

Elemental - Grants a 20% chance for Elemental Overload to occur. Elemental Overload causes a Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, or Lava Burst spell you cast to trigger a second, similar spell on the same target at no additional cost that causes 60% of normal damage and no threat. Chance to trigger increased further by mastery rating.

Restoration - Increases the potency of your direct healing spells by up to 20%, based on the current health level of your target (lower health targets are healed for more). Healing increased further by mastery rating.

Cataclysm Screenshot of the Day - The Tol'vir
The Screenshot of the Day Gallery has been updated with a new screenshot of Uldum featuring the Tol'vir race. This is the first time we see them without their armor!

Undead on a Raptor on a Shark with frickin' laser beams!
I know I already posted it on Facebook and Twitter but ... damn, it's a Undead on a Raptor on a Shark with frickin' laser beams!

Originally Posted by Valnoth
(Blue Tracker)

Maybe I missed the memo on levels of "epicosity" or something, but I'm pretty sure the Maelstrom is a CLASS 10 epic zone. Though I guess it is missing sharks with laser beams patrolling the waters and Arthur Fonzarelli jumping across it with water skis. And dinosaurs.

[...] After reading this post I called for a meeting with TOP TOP MEN (that's two tops) in order to figure out a solution to the problem at hand. Frankly, I think we hit a home run. The next 4.0 build (or the one after) should have a Maelstrom that's between 10 - 50x more epic than what currently exists.

Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler
(Blue Tracker)

I'm on a shark.

Fire Mage Talent Preview

Originally Posted by Kalgan
(Blue Tracker)

Quick preview of upcoming fire changes (talents are from left to right, *denotes a change to the talent):

Tier 1:

Master of Elements: now 2 ranks at 15/30%

Burning Soul

Incineration: removed

Improved Fire Blast: moved from tier 2

Tier 2:

Ignite

Fire Power: Increases the damage of your Fire spells by 1/2/3% and gives your Flame Orb a 33/66/100% chance to explode at the end of its duration.

Blazing Speed

Impact (no useful raid utility yet... awesome ideas welcome)

Tier 3:

Cauterize (new, 2 ranks): You have a 50/100%% chance that an attack which would otherwise kill you will instead bring you to 40% of your maximum health. However, you will burn for 12% of your maximum health every second for the next 4 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once per minute.

Blast Wave: A wave of flame radiates outward from the target location, damaging all enemies caught within the blast for X Fire damage and are slowed by 75% for 3 sec.

Firestarter (new, 1 rank): Your Molten Armor allows you to cast the Scorch spell while moving instead of reducing the chance you are critically hit.

Tier 5:

Improved Flamestrike

Dragon's Breath

Molten Fury

Tier 6:

Critical Mass: Your Pyroblast and Scorch spells have a 33/66/100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to spell damage, increasing spell critical strike chance against that target by 5% and lasts 30 sec.

Tier 7:

Living Bomb

Blue Posts

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

End of Arena Season
The only information that we have to share with you right now is that we will announce the end of the arena season when it is almost over, just like in every previous season. We don't provide date estimates on anything and this is no exception. Several other people understood what I was saying and the end result is that you will have to wait. (Source)

Shattered Barrier proc while silenced, stunned, etc
...worth noting that the same is true of Reactive Barrier. (Source)

Reactive Barrier
There's a reasonable chance a talent like this ends up being better in practical use than in theorycraft. It could end up needing a little something extra, or a redesign, but I'm willing to let it ride for a while to see how it actually plays out. (Source)

Protection
We'd also like to find a way to bring Shield of Righteousness back, but only if we can find an actual niche for it -- not just "here's another attack." Something like it consuming Holy Power but refreshing Holy Shield. (Source)

Priest (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)Shadow
We haven't worked on the Shadow tree much after out initial pass (that brought Shadowy Apparition et al.). We're working on it now. Please don't expect a total overhaul where every talent is redesigned, but we are taking a hard look at all of the damage talents and trying to make the talent choices more compelling (which often means harder). (Source)

However, we are going to increase buff totem range (and possibly other totem range) and we have figured out a way to make Searing Totem attack your target, instead of a random and probably inappropriate target. (Source)

Protection changes in Build 12664
We buffed Thunder Clap to make up for the loss of the Imp TClap talent. We buffed Shockwave just because it got caught up in the big AE nerf, but it's really not an AE on the level of Hurricane / Blizzard. We buffed Devastate because we realized we had forgotten to compensate it for reducing the number of Sunder stacks.

All of those changes should bring Prot warrior abilities back to something that feels more normal to a current warrior.

Currently we are looking really hard at AE damage abilities by all tanks. We tried Thunder Clap with no cooldown and didn't like it. We also tried Thunder Clap with a Consecrate-like talent, but I'm not sure we like that either. At the moment we are thinking of nerfing any of the really passive AEs, including Swipe, Death and Decay, Damage Shield and Consecrate. All of those abilities (well, maybe not Damage Shield) would still be usable, but they would be more situational.

The bottom line is that we think all tanks need to be able to trivially handle the massive adds or straggling adds situations easily, or none of them should be able to. (Source)

Starcraft 2 Added to 2010 MLG Pro Circuit Starting in RaleighMLG just added Starcraft 2 to their PC Circuit. That means you'll have a chance to follow both games during the next tournament in Raleigh on August 27-29.

From MLGPro.com
Major League Gaming is thrilled to announce the addition of Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty to the 2010 MLG Pro Circuit. Starting with our Raleigh Pro Circuit Competition, August 27-29, the highly anticipated sequel to Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game will join the MLG Pro Circuit as an open registration title. Blizzard has selected MLG as its Official North American Partner for Starcraft 2, and we’re tremendously excited to extend our relationship with them and foster a competitive tournament experience in this game as well as in World of Warcraft.

The First Live North American Starcraft 2 Event Kicks Off at MLG Raleigh:

1v1 format

32 players, open registration

Double-elimination format

Over $5,000 in cash prizes

Passes are $60 per player

Registration opens Tuesday, August 3rd, at 7pm ET on MLGPro.com

Culminates in National Championship in Dallas, November 5-7

Join us in Raleigh and Be a Part of Starcraft 2’s First Live Tournament!

The inaugural Starcraft 2 Pro Circuit Season will surely boast an unbelievable array of epic matches and historic events. More information regarding Starcraft 2 will be released in the coming weeks. Get your build orders ready and your hotkeys set, and we’ll see you in Raleigh.